White House Threatens To Veto Forest Bill

White house budget officials say they will advise the president to veto a logging bill the House is discussing this week.

Lawmakers from the Northwest introduced the controversial bill. Washington representative Doc Hastings wrote half of it. His part of creates a logging quota in each national forest. Oregon house members wrote the other half. Their section would sign over about a million acres of forests in Western Oregon to a logging trust managed by the state. The White House isn’t having any of it. In a brief, the administration wrote that both parts of the bill would harm endangered species and increase the risk of lawsuits. In a statement Oregon representative Greg Walden says he’s disappointed by the veto. He says he bill creates jobs in rural communities and reduces the risk of wildfires. Walden expects the bill to pass with bipartisan support in the House in the coming days.